meltdown: real life = real yoga test

So here’s what I think about living as a modern-day yogi: it’s a helluva lot harder than being an ancient-day yogi. Yup, being a “householder” as Yogi Bhajan called us, really ups the risk of losing our yoga.

This week, my internet modem broke down. One minute I’m working away, racing through client projects, ticking off my to-do list like crazy, and the next minute–Nadda. Not a thing is goin’ on ’cause I can’t get online. Two hours later and a long convo with a Telus helper and the conclusion is: “we’ll send you a new modem in three to five days.” Three to FIVE days! Hang on, lemme just call up all the people who depend on me to get things done for them–I’ll just let them all know it’ll be a week late. All of it.

For me, this is “Lost: Yoga” prime time. Freak-out central. Lucky for me, this is where my heart spoke up. It said, “Here’s a challenge that’s even bigger than trying to get into Mayurasana. It’s even bigger than making sure you get up early every day–no matter what–to do your morning Sadhana. This challenge is to keep your yoga, the real heart-open, perspective-bringing, calm-inducing, loving yoga, going off the mat–into this real world.”

So have I floated through this week, no big deal? Not entirely. But let the record show that Lindsey Lewis, she who at one time, in another life, was known for needing to control every detail of not just her life but those of the others in her life, too, has slept through every night soundly, has enjoyed the time spent working in a cafe, has stayed calm for probably about 90% of this time, and has realized, too, the great gift of being welcomed into the home of her amazing yogi-friend B–who’s dining table I’ve spent the past two and a half days working from.

I don’t actually have a handy list of take-away-tips to share with anyone hoping to use them in their own “Lost: Yoga” moments. What I do have is the understanding that the power came from simply recognizing that this was my big challenge: to keep my yoga going, in all these moments, off my mat.